Tenets
What is "Numbers are not neutral"?
What is "Reject colorblind interpretations"?
QuantCrit rejects all traditional statistical methods as inherently racist.
What is "False"?
A study examines racial disparities in police stops using national crime data. The researchers treat race as a neutral variable and conclude that disparities are "statistically insignificant" after controlling for factors like neighborhood crime rates.
What is Not QuantCrit?
Why? It accepts race as a neutral variable and doesn’t interrogate systemic racism in policing.
QuantCrit challenges the notion that quantitative data are objective and neutral, acknowledging that they are shaped by the researcher's biases, the data collection process, and the social contexts in which they are produced.
What is "Categories are political"?
What is "Interrogate who defines them"?
A key goal of QuantCrit is to use statistics to reinforce colorblind policy approaches
What is False?
Why? QuantCrit explicitly opposes colorblind frameworks.
A team analyzes standardized test scores by race but also interviews Black and Latino students about their experiences with testing bias, then integrates these narratives into their findings.
What is QuantCrit?
Why? It combines quantitative data with marginalized voices, challenging deficit narratives.
QuantCrit argues that racial and ethnic categories are not natural or fixed but are socially constructed and used to perpetuate inequalities.
What is "Data reflects power"?
What is "Ask who owns and controls it"?
A key goal of QuantCrit is to use data to advocate for policy changes that address racial inequities.
What is "True"?
A researcher uses Census data to compare income levels across racial groups but does not question why certain racial categories are lumped together (e.g., all Asian subgroups as "Asian").
What is Not QuantCrit?
Why? It fails to critique racial categorization or structural inequities behind income gaps.
What is "Context is everything"?
What is "History and systems shape outcomes"?
QuantCrit is only applicable to education research and cannot be used in other fields.
What is "False"?
Why? It has been applied in criminology, public health, economics, etc.
A study on school suspensions disaggregates data by race, gender, and disability status, then uses mapping software to show how suspensions cluster in historically redlined neighborhoods.
What is QuantCrit?
Why? It uses intersectional analysis and links disparities to structural racism.
QuantCrit is committed to using quantitative data to promote social justice and equity, challenging existing systems of oppression and working towards a more just world.
What is "Centering equity"?
What is "Prioritize justice over "efficiency.""?
QuantCrit emerged directly from Critical Race Theory (CRT) as an extension into quantitative methods.
What is "True"?
A paper analyzes college admissions data and argues that disparities in acceptance rates are due to "cultural differences in academic preparation" rather than systemic barriers.
What is Not QuantCrit?
Why? It blames marginalized groups instead of critiquing institutional racism.